Hands to Boarding Stations
by ckpurple
Summary: Mike comes up with a devious way of getting Kate alone in his cabin. Assumes established M/K relationship.


Disclaimer: Sea Patrol and all of its characters belong to its creators Hal McElroy, Di McElroy and Sea Patrol Productions Pty Limited, Film Finance Corporation Australia Limited and The Pacific Film & Television Commission Pty Limited. I'm just borrowing a few of the characters for the purposes of this story.

**Hands to Boarding Stations**

"X if any boarding parties are needed over the next few days I think it would be a good time for you to take a step back and let Buffer get some practice in," Mike stated tentatively.

As the words sunk in the rest of the crew almost took a step backwards, knowing the reaction this would get from their XO and wanting to avoid being in the line of fire.

Sure enough she turned to the boss and glaring at him said through gritted teeth, "Sir could I have a word with you in your cabin."

"Of course" he replied.

As soon as the door to his cabin had shut behind them she started "Sir we talked about this before, any boarding parties are mine."

"Normally yes, I just thought you could use some uninterrupted time to catch up on your paperwork," he replied.

"Thank you but I am perfectly capable of carrying out all my duties," she told him coldly.

"I know you are" he said softly, raising his hand to her cheek and gently caressing it.

At his first touch, her eyes closed for a second savouring his touch, but then she remembered where they were and that she couldn't allow him to distract her from the task at hand.

"That's not going to work," she said struggling to stay mad at him.

"No… really?" he asked quirking an eyebrow at her.

"No and you better not be thinking of using that to get round me when we disagree," she told him as firmly as she could, trying to show him she meant it.

Holding his hands up in mock surrender he said "Ok, Ok if you want the boarding party that much, its yours," he told her before leaning down slightly, placing his lips over hers and kissing her gently. She found herself getting caught up in the moment again for a second before breaking away from him and looking at him appraisingly.

"Wait a minute, you gave way too easily there," she stated suspiciously.

He just shrugged his shoulders before smiling and asking "do you know how sexy you are when you're angry" immediately catching her lips in his for another kiss before she had a chance to respond.

As she pulled back again, he could almost see the cogs turning behind her eyes as she tried to work out the meaning behind his comments. Then almost as if a light had gone on, she shut her eyes briefly before asking "tell me you didn't just use the boarding party thing as an excuse to get me alone in your cabin."

"Absolutely not all my orders are completely serious and necessary to ensure the efficient running of this boat" he deadpanned.

She just quirked an eyebrow back at him.

"Ok, well maybe," he conceded giving in again "but it's been weeks since we last had shore leave."

"You think I don't know that but we agreed on the boat strictly professional, if we get caught you know what the consequences would be," she reminded him.

"Yes, but at the moment that might almost be worth it," he said seductively, stealing another kiss. Each time he kissed her, her resolve was weakening and so she allowed this one to continue longer than the others but when she felt his hands around her waist begin to stray to the middle fastenings of her overalls, she pulled back again, her hands closing over his to stop them wandering again.

"Uh, uh" she said shaking her head "no more." He just looked at her soulfully so she continued "there's just one flaw in your brilliant plan."

"Only one," he asked cheekily.

"ok, one of many" she amended, fixing him with what she hoped was a serious stare. "and that is timescale, the crew are expecting shouting and then depending on which way the argument goes doorslamming in quick succession."

He just looked at her questioningly as if waiting to see where she was going with this so after drawing breath she continued slowly as if spelling out the obvious to someone who was being unnecessarily slow in catching on, "so… if they don't hear that or there is a long pause of silence they're going to think one of two things… number 1 we've killed each other or number 2 they're going to guess that something else is going on with us….. either way they're going to come and investigate," she finished looking appraisingly at him.

"I guess" he replied dejectedly, his shoulders drooping slightly.

"Good I'm glad we got that sorted, right so now I'm going to leave, I'll open the door, you're going to say dismissed and I'll slam the door so we can get back on course," she said moving towards the door.

As she placed her hand on the handle she turned back to look at him "now if you can manage to be a good boy until we get back to port, I promise to make it worth your while during shore leave" she told him cheekily, staring at him intensely for a second before opening the door. He just about managed his part shouting "dismissed" as sternly as he could, leaving her to give a curt "Sir" in return and slamming the door behind her.

He was left just staring at the door, shaking his head, the power that women had over him, the slightest thing… he really couldn't wait for this patrol to be over.


End file.
